Frieza’s 1st form is realized with this model kit along with his Hover Pod chair. The model kit is easy to assemble and when all is said and done, looks wickedly amazing. Priced at about $35, this kit is a must have.

When Bandai announced they were doing model kits with the Star Wars brand, I never would have guessed they’d be doing characters. What better way to kick off the line than the Sith Lord Darth Vader. He scales perfectly with the Hasbro’s 6″ black series. This kit is very, very detailed but because its a model kit, you have to detail all the little buttons on Vader’ s chest and belt. Luckily you have 2 decal sheets to help but ideally, you’ll want to use paint for a better look. The articulation system isn’t super out of this world but you definitely get all the need points for good posing. The cape can be annoying to pose with due to its 3 part functionality. I found the outer pieces popped off a little too easy. The assembly process is pretty easy, maybe a 2-3 hr build with stickers application. I definitely prefer this kit to Hasbro’s 6″ Black Series Vader figure, especially the helmet which looks so much more screen accurate.

Bandai takes another stab at their character model kit series with Masked Rider Kabuto. This kits assemble much like a HG Gundam kit. With a few runners and few hours of assembling/painting, this kit assembles into a solid 6″ action figure with very well designed elements and great articulation. Accessories include all parts to put Kabuto into his armored Masked form as well as parts to form his various weapons. Included is a decal sheet that helps put the finishing touches on kit in detail sense and as a bonus, you get stickers that allow you to convert the kit into Dark Kabuto if you wish (minor repainting required). Priced at about $30.

This is one of those “what the hell” kind of buys. I was browsing through eBay looking for Gundam Markers and was recommended this kit from Bandai. I have no idea what this kit is based on but it looked really interesting. It comes with instructions for assembly, a few runners with all the parts (just like with Gundam parts), and a small sticker sheet.

Before I started to build it, I repainted the yellow parts which was in a standard Gundam yellow to much metallic looking gold. Total build time was about 30 minutes. Amazingly easy and fun.

The design is just amazing. There’s nice dark angelic feel to the design. The design style reminds me of Mega Man X. The articulation is very much equal to a moderen day High Grade Gundam Kit so you can really pose him anyway you want.

His weapon is a clear plastic purple sword. The material is very solid and not cheap.

For defense he has a warrior style shield.

He also sports clear purple plastic wings that are adjustable in position. You can have them lowered for cape kind of look or up high for flight.

This is really based for the Pokemon kid demographic and priced under $20 each. I scanned through some of the other kits in the series after finishing off this kit and I have to say this is one model kit series I may consider diving back into. If you want to try out something new for your model building robot needs, give this series a try.

A few times a year, I’ll get into building a Japanese model kit. Usually its a Bandai Gundam kit. This time, I got my hands on the Wave 1/100 Macross VF-1S Battroid Roy Focker Special Model Kit priced at about $35. The runners are few in number and the kit is really ease to build. A nice plus is the battroid can be converted in gerwalk (guardian) mode with a bit of part swapping. Applying the waterslide decals is pain in the ass…they aren’t made of the best material, cut with too much extra clear material, and can flake off pretty easily after drying. The articulation is descent but don’t expect true action figure posing like you would get with Bandai’s HG Models or Robot Spirits action figure series. This kit looks best in a standing pose. I reworked the colors with black and blue trims in honor of Max Sterling, my favorite Macross character. Added some weather and black panel lining and ended up with a model I’m kinda happy with.

I wouldn’t recommend this kit. The 12 inch tall box is really misleading when you end up with 6 inch battroid which is really 5 inches if you ignore the gunpod antennas on his head. The sculpt really nice, I mean really nice and I’m OK with the limited range of motion in the elbows and knees. The decals really are the worst part of this kit because they are so terrible to work with. I won’t even dare to convert this into gerwalk mode at this point in fear the decals will flake off. If you plan to pick this up just know what you’re getting into with my comments on this kit. Your better off painting in the details rather than using the waterslide decals that come with this kit.